Obese children are more likely to become obese adults, and this likelihood increases if the child's parents are obese. Diabetes is one of the most common diseases obese people experience in their life and has fatal consequences. Obese children are more likely to get type 2 diabetes and it can occur while they are child or later on. Obese women are 12 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than other women with normal weight.Overweight children not only suffer in present but in most cases obesity has long term effect. Diabetes, heart disease and many other diseases can follow. Cardiovascular disease is most likely any obese child could get in the future. There are some cardiovascular risk factors involved with obese children like high blood pressure, raised blood lipid/fats, raised insulin levels, and abnormalities in left ventricular mass. Obesity also contributes to cancer deaths and diseases like sleep disorder, asthma, and joint problem. Worryingly, child obesity is rising dramatically in the urban areas in Nepal.
The impact of child obesity is tragic. Despite government and other volunteer organizations' effort in reducing child obesity, obesity is likely to rocket in the future if the current trend of food consumption continues. What children eat daily is important for their health. Children are eating junk foods like burger, pizza, chips and oily food with high calories and that result into overweight.
Pizza, burgers and chips are addictive food items and they trigger the hormone that makes children lose control of eating. An article published in The Telegraph reports that studies found a single fast-food meal could contain a dose of fat and carbohydrate large enough to cause changes in brain structure usually associated with addiction to drugs. An urban child in Nepal seems to be eating less than half the recommended portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Majority of children also seem to be consuming more saturated fat, sugar and salt than the maximum adult recommendations.
Childhood is an important stage to prevent obesity but it may also be a difficult stage at which to treat established obesity. Child needs to grow physically to become psychologically secure. To prevent obesity in children, dieting is not advisable and there are other ways of controlling or managing body weight. It would be wise to get parents, teachers and local health bodies involved into educating children about perils of being overweight and their consequences in the future.
Teaching children to eat healthy and balanced diet by bringing change in their current eating habit, and increase in physical activities would help keep them healthier. Health inequalities are contributing to child obesity. Therefore, the government needs to take initiative to raise people above their poverty level to control such health problem highly found in lower class people. In some way these people need attention from both local government and other organizations working towards tackling obesity/overweight. Here the old saying is useful, 'Prevention is better than cure'. Preventing people from becoming obese and overweight is wiser than spending millions on curing those affected by it.
Effective methods for treating overweight and obesity in adults include increased exercise, low fat diets, physical activity and awareness of nutrition promoting healthy eating and drinking. Also there seem to be a need to encourage people to increase daily fruit and vegetable intake and a decrease in consumption of fatty, salty and sugary foods. At the same time people should be encouraged to check obesity with the help of various methods. Approaching them in their workplaces, community groups, food retailers and catering establishments with health awareness programs can help. It is equally important to encourage people to adopt healthy eating habits and carry out some physical activities daily.
Often changes in eating habits and physical activities are the result of environmental and social changes. It is also associated with lack of supportive policies in sectors such as health, agriculture, urban planning, distribution and marketing of food and education.
The author is a social worker and yoga instructor
anu@anitayadav.com
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